First-term Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) affirmed his support for Israel in an interview with Jewish Insider on Thursday, amid mounting tensions within the Democratic Party over Middle East foreign policy following the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas. “I believe that the United States and Israel share an unbreakable bond, and Israel has been our most important ally in the region,” he told JI in a phone conversation shortly before a floor vote. 

“While I did not agree with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, that does not get in the way of my support and love for Israel,” Luján added, referring to Israel’s current leader, who is now at risk of being ousted by a coalition of Israeli opposition parties. “The United States also has a lot of work to do. We just came through four years of President Donald Trump, a president who was the most divisive in our history, and while I have a lot of concerns with President Trump and the way he approached things, that does not take away from my love for the United States of America. I think that’s how so many people feel across the United States, including those I serve with.”

A Senate bill introduced Tuesday that would create new rules to govern philanthropic contributions made through donor-advised funds (DAF) has Jewish nonprofit leaders warning of a “fundamental change” in giving that would “deprive those most in need.”

The Accelerating Charitable Efforts (ACE) Act, sponsored by Sens. Angus King (I-ME) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), would require donations made via donor-advised funds to be distributed to charities within 15 years from when an individual places money in the fund. Existing laws allow individuals to earn tax advantages when they donate to a DAF, but there is no timeline for when the money must be distributed to nonprofit organizations.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) walked back comments that appeared to equate actions by the U.S. and Israel to terrorist activities by the Taliban and Hamas amid rising tensions among House Democrats on Thursday. 

The Minnesota congresswoman issued a statement Thursday afternoon that appeared to walk back portions of her previous remarks, saying that she was “in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems” and that she was seeking “accountability for specific incidents regarding those [International Criminal Court] cases, not a moral comparison between Hamas and the Taliban and the U.S. and Israel.”

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. and U.N. Gilad Erdan said on Wednesday that Israel sought to avoid a ground invasion in Gaza when it struck a building housing press offices during last month’s conflict with Hamas. “Hamas placed a secret unit that developed technologies that were aimed to jam the capabilities of our Iron Dome [in the building], and if we hadn’t knocked down this building… they would jam the Iron Dome capabilities, where you will have no other choice but to initiate a ground operation,” Erdan said during a virtual event hosted by Democratic Majority for Israel.

Erdan said that in a ground operation, “many more civilians would pay with their own lives.” The airstrike on the building housing the Associated Press’ Gaza office, he said, was Israel’s best option to reduce collateral damage.

A group of 12 Jewish House Democrats spoke out against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) late Wednesday night for comments made by the Minnesota lawmaker on Monday that critics say appeared to liken wartime actions by the U.S. and Israel to terrorist activities of Hamas and the Taliban.

In a tweet on Monday about the status of the International Criminal Court’s probes of the U.S. and Israel, Omar wrote, “We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban,” and argued that the U.S. and Israeli justice systems were either unwilling or unable to address these issues.
The tweet included a video of the congresswoman questioning Secretary of State Tony Blinken earlier that day.

In the wake of the recent war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, and as Congress begins to debate the 2022 federal budget, 38 senators voiced bipartisan support for providing Israel with $500 million in funding for the Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow 3 missile-defense programs.

Under the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and Israel — which was codified into law last year — the U.S. is required to provide this aid annually for cooperative missile-defense programs, on top of an additional $3.3 billion in military aid.

A growing number of prominent tech and business executives are signing on to a statement denouncing antisemitism amid a recent uptick in hate crimes against Jews around the country, Jewish Insider has learned. The letter, which has been circulating Silicon Valley this week, has racked up signatures from more than 150 industry leaders as of Wednesday afternoon, including Thrive Global CEO Arianna Huffington, ViacomCBS chair Shari Redstone and former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo.

“As business leaders, we have a collective responsibility to stand up for the society we want,” the letter reads. “Today, we stand against antisemitism and violence against Jews. This is true regardless of your views on Israel; this is about protecting people from the injustice of antisemitism and hatred.”

Mark Levine, a New York City councilmember running for Manhattan borough president, is calling for a dramatic budget increase for the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes as acts of violence against Jews and Asian-Americans have risen sharply in recent months.

The office currently operates with an annual budget of approximately $700,000 for a staff of seven, along with $3 million for an initiative that helps fund six organizations, including the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, dedicated to the advancement of community-based solutions for preventing hate crimes.